Open your Bibles, if you would,
to John chapter 17. Tonight's message is called God
Glorified. God Glorified. And tonight we'll
continue our study in this wonderful chapter, John chapter 17. And we will look at, again, the
words of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great Redeemer. And we will see our Lord's sinless
and moral perfection are implied by what he brings forth in the
scriptures. And only the sinless man, only the perfect sinless
man can fulfill God's law. He's the only one. He's the only
one who's sinless. He's the only one who's perfect.
Therefore, only he can fulfill God's law. Every one of us is
sinners. We broke every one of God's laws. Every one of them. But praise be to God, Christ
came to fulfill the law in our place. Now let's read with that
in our minds, John 17, verses 1 to 5. And let us remember that
Christ fulfilled all the demands of the Father for the souls of
His people. We had to be redeemed from our
sin. He shed His precious blood. We had to obey the law perfectly,
and we can't, and yet he obeyed the law perfectly in our room
and place. Everything that God demanded for the salvation of
our souls, he did it all. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou has given
him power over all flesh, What a statement. That he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. What a statement
there, too. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. Again, these first
five verses is Christ the God-man praying to the Father about himself.
And let us think upon this, that the Son of God, the Word of God,
the second person of the Trinity, humbled himself and became a
man. What humility, that God himself would become a man. What condescension, what What
humility. The old timers call it his humiliation. My oh my. And he did that for
you and I. If we're God's people, he did
that for you and I. He left heaven for you and I. And we know the reason he came
here, right? To save his people from their
sins. That's why he came here. And we see here also too, though,
that he came to glorify God. He came to glorify God in saving
sinners such as you and I, he's glorified God greatly. And then
what happens to us? We who are the redeemed, we who
are born again believers, now we glorify God for the great
things that he'd done for us. We could never save ourselves.
He saves us from all our sins. Every one of them. My oh my. So he humbled himself. Turn if
you would to Philippians chapter 2. He humbled himself. He came
here to where we are. To redeem us. Again, leaving
the glory and splendors of heaven to save. Remember, we're his
bride. He came to save his bride. He
came to save those whom He's loved from eternity, and He came
to save us from our sins. And this humiliation is brought
forth in Philippians chapter two, that the King of glory,
the Lord of lords and the King of kings, becomes a man and lived
upon this earth, and He's on a mission. He's on a mission
to glorify God, and in doing so, he's going to save his people
from their sins. That's why he came. And we marvel
at that, don't we? Because we can't save ourselves.
And yet he saved a multitude all at once that no man can number. Oh, how great he is. Look at
this in Philippians chapter 2. Look at verses 5 to 11. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."
He's the Word of God. He's the second person of the
Trinity. Look at this, but made himself of no reputation. You
know, when he came into this world, he didn't come in like
a king with bands playing. The angels announced his coming,
but they announced it to just poor shepherd boys, right? My, oh my. He humbled himself. He made himself of no reputation.
Scripture says that if we saw him, there'd be nothing that
would cause us to love him. He had no form nor comeliness.
He was just an average-looking fella. But oh, who He was! The Lord Jesus Christ, the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. He took upon Him the form of
a servant. He came here as a servant, beloved.
In the covenant of grace, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit
made a covenant in eternity. And the Holy Spirit said, I'm
going to go and... The Holy Spirit said, I'm going to regenerate
them and bring them to you. But the son said, I'm going to
go and redeem them. I'm going to become a man. I'm going to
become bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, and I'm
going to redeem them from all their sins. See, God can't die,
can he? So he becomes a man so he can
die in our Roman place and satisfy his own. Now, this is what just
blows my mind away. He came to satisfy his own law
and justice in our place. What love drove him to do that?
As I've said many times, that's the greatest manifestation of
love this world has ever, ever seen, beloved. Ever. Ever. And it says here, but he made
himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant.
He was in full submission to the Father. We're going to see
that tonight. And the reason he's in full submission to the
Father is he's here to do the Father's will and to glorify
God by doing that. It was made in the likeness of
men. He was just like us. He was flesh like we're flesh.
He got tired like we get tired. He gets hungry. He got hungry
like we get hungry. He was thirsty like we get thirsty. He moved around in this world,
and yet he did it all without sin. Not one sin. Not one thought sin. Not one
sin indeed. Nothing. Perfect. The perfect
man. And being found in a fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death.
Look at that. So he humbles himself by becoming
a man, and then he further humbles himself by going to the cross
to die for you and I. He's sinless, right? He's absolutely sinless. We're
the sinners he's dying for. And it says he humbled himself.
And look at this, it also says that he became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. We're going to see that tonight.
And we saw that in John 17. Look at verse 4. I have glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. Now we're just going to look at the first part of that
verse tonight. But again, that word finished there means to
be completed to perfection. The same word he cried, same
Greek word is used when he cried, it is finished. It means to be
completed to perfection. Isn't that wonderful? That means there's nothing for
us to do for our salvation. Amen. It's all done. It's all
done. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. that
at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To what? To the glory
of God the Father. Every single person who's ever
lived upon this earth, whether they're saved or lost, is gonna
glorify God by pronouncing, confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. Think
of that pilot. is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. Caiaphas, the high priest, is
going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Paul Pot, Hitler, Stalin, these
butchers of men are going to confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. My, oh my. And he is the Lord
who saved our souls. This is the one who saved our
souls, beloved. The one who humbled himself and became a man, became
obedient unto death for us. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. Where is he? He's right back in glory now,
isn't he? God's answered his prayer. He's in glory right now. Seated
at the right hand of the Father. Back to the place where he came
from. But now he's there as a man. Henry Mahan used to say, he left
heaven, the son of God, and now he's gone back. He's the Lord
Jesus Christ, the mediator. The one mediator between God
and man, the Passover Lamb of God. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And so we see one day all will
acknowledge who he is. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. He is the Lord of all. Jesus
Christ is Lord. Everyone will proclaim. My. Some people say, well, I don't
believe that. Well, don't change the fact. You're going to bow
your knee. You're going to bow your knee, either here or in
glory. We who are God's people, we bow
our knee to the Lord right now by His grace and mercy. Otherwise,
we'd be doing what everyone else is doing, going, argh! But by
His mercy, we don't now. We confess. Here we confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, don't we? To the glory of God the Father.
We see in that text in Philippians chapter two that the Son of Man
was humbled by taking our nature upon Himself. What humility. He's God in glory. Remember Isaiah
chapter six and the angels and seraphims are falling down before
him and he's on this great throne. That's the word of God, beloved.
That's our king in glory. And he left all that and became
a man to save us from our sins. You imagine what the angels thought
when they were watching him upon this earth? What's the master doing? What's he doing? Oh my. My oh my. He took upon himself
our nature. And this was manifested by his
poverty. He had nowhere to lay his head.
The king of glory has nowhere to lay his head. And then the
reproaches that he faced, the who's who of the religious world
turned on him, didn't they? He came onto his own and they
received him not. They rejected him. But you know what? None of those
things compared to the humiliation of his death. When the just one died for the
unjust. When the sinless one died for
sinners. None of those reproaches compared to this great time for him going to Calvary's
cross. And yet, Marvel, beloved, that
this hour of His glory, to the eye we see nothing but the cross
looming before Christ. And yet by faith we behold that
the clouds of that hour will soon break forth in splendor
and in glory as He redeems His people from their sins. the sinless Redeemer, dying for
sinners. He cries to the Father, Father
forgive them, for they know not what they do. You know what's
amazing? Men in their wickedness thought
they had the victory. They thought they'd stamped out
the way, the people of the way, because they're taking the leader
out. But little did they know that
all this was happening according to the foreknowledge of God. So man in his greatest point
of wickedness is actually being used to glorify God. Isn't that
amazing? God is taking that which is meant
for evil and turning it for good. And look at the good for we who
are the redeemed. My, oh my, what a Savior, what
a King, what a Lord our Lord is. He is the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. He's the only one true God. He
purchases our eternal soul. Those clouds that three hours
of darkness comes upon and He's working out our salvation there
on the cross. We don't know. It's veiled in
darkness. That's a mystery what's going on there. As Christ dies,
the Prince of Life dies for sinners. And then the clouds break forth. Oh, the mighty King has died
for sinners! And they think, we did it! We
got him! In three days, he rises from the grave for our justification,
beloved. Oh, my. What a Savior. And mark the fortitude displayed
by our Redeemer as he faces the cross. He's speaking these words
here before he faces the cross. And note the fortitude. Mark
the meekness of our Redeemer as He willingly is preparing
to go to the cross. Mark the meekness of Christ as
they're beating Him and they're whipping Him, and He's silent
as a lamb. Mark the meekness of our great
Savior as He's going to the cross and He turns to the women of
Jerusalem and says, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. My, oh my, what a Savior. And
mark the full submission of our great King to the Father's will.
Full submission to the will of God. Both here in this prayer
and in this life, as He obeyed the law perfectly in our room
and place. Now He's going to the cross to
be our substitute. all this is coming to pass according
to the will of God, the purpose of God. And note the forgiveness again
when he says, Father forgive them for they know not what they
do. Note the forgiveness shown to
the dying thief when he says, Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. He's dying for that thief right
there. Today, not in a week, not at the second coming of Christ. No, today thou shalt be with
me in paradise. To be absent from the bodies,
be present with the Lord, beloved. Hallelujah. And note the love and tenderness
of our great Savior as He prays to the Father. He prays for himself,
first of all, in the verses we looked at. Then he prays for
the apostles. And then he prays for all the
elect of all the ages. What tenderheartedness was shown
there. What love is shown there. He
knows what he's facing. And yet, he's pouring out before
the Father about us and about the apostles. Note
the eternal love which Christ has for we who are his people.
His love makes him willingly go to the cross. His eternal
love for you and I makes him willingly face that cross, and
go to that cross willingly, and have the nails pierce his hands
and his feet. And the crown of thorns was plated
upon his head, and he willingly went. to die as a substitute of His
people. And note the dying Savior, having
the full wrath of God poured out upon Him. We couldn't see
it, could we? They couldn't see it at the cross. But God's wrath
for all the elect of all the ages is being poured out upon
them. And He's like a shield, beloved.
And that wrath is hitting Him, just hitting Him and hitting
Him. And we're like behind Him. And not a drop of God's wrath
will ever touch us. Because He consumed it all, beloved. Remember the sacrifice was consumed
by fire? He consumed all that wrath, beloved. So there's not a drop gonna touch
you and I. My, what love. The just one dying
for the unjust. Oh, what a great, great God we
have. And so marvel at this great love
which Christ has for his people. Let's read verse four again.
He says, I have glorified thee upon the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. Now our Lord Jesus Christ
had glorified the Father in his life, hadn't he? And he glorified him perfectly.
He lived the perfect life that you and I could never, never
ever live. He lived it. And to glorify God is to obey
him perfectly. Can we obey God perfectly? Not
at all. We're a bunch of sinners, aren't
we? But praise be to God, our great
substitute did it for us. He obeyed perfectly the law of God for us. And he
lived in absolute submission to the Father's will, didn't
he? See, we could never live in absolute submission to the
Father's will, because we're always going off here or going
off there, aren't we? by our sinfulness. That's why Peter said, Lord,
help my unbelief. That's our cry, isn't it? Help my unbelief,
Lord, please. Please. And we see the words
in our text bring forth that our mighty Savior has glorified
God upon this earth. Look what he says. He says, I
have glorified thee on the earth. You know what? Only the Lord
Jesus Christ can say that. Not one of us can say that. But
the Lord Jesus Christ can. He's the sinless God-man. He's
the perfect man. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
4. John chapter 4. We see this blessed truth is
brought forth in John chapter 4. I'll have us turn into a few
places, mostly in the book of John tonight, But look at this
in John chapter four, verse 34. Jesus saith unto them, my meat
is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.
So again, we see that he's sent by the father, but look what
it is. He's come to do the will of the
father. You know, it's the father's will that we'd be saved. Isn't
that amazing? Amazing. That's amazing grace. and to finish his work, the work of redeeming his people,
amen, not ours, his work, God's work, to redeem his people from
their sins. He came to do it. And he did
it, beloved. He did it. He did it all. He
cried, it's finished. It's completely perfect in the
Greek. Wonderful. Wonderful. See the word glorify there in
verse 34? It's the same Greek word that's used in our text
in John 17, where he says, I have glorified thee on the earth.
Same Greek word is used here. Oh, I got the wrong verse there.
I got the wrong verse. But the word glorify there means
to glorify. That's what it means in the Greek.
And the consequential meaning from the opinion, one which forms
is to recognize, honor, and praise, to esteem one or another, or
honor one by putting him in an honorable position. So Christ,
by completely obeying the Father, puts him in an honorable position.
And then later on, he says he's manifesting, he manifested God
to his people that he gave him. That brings more glory to God,
doesn't it? Even more, it's wonderful. So
actually in his death, he brings forth a multitude of people who
will be saved and will glorify God. It's amazing, just absolutely
amazing. Turn if you would to John chapter
eight. John chapter eight. Again, this truth is brought
forth here too. It says here in John chapter
8, verses 28 to 30. Then said Jesus unto them, when
ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that
I am he, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father hath
taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me, there it
is again, is with me. The Father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him. And as he spake
these words, many believed on him. Now look at that. We do
things by nature that do not please God. Do you know the only way we can
please God is in Christ? Do you know that we're forgiven
for Christ's sake, the scripture says? It's amazing, it really is. It's
absolutely incredible. So we see there in verse 29 of
John chapter 8 that Christ came to glorify the Father. Look at
this, and He that sent me is with me, the Father hath not
left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.
He came here to glorify God. And by pleasing the Father, He's
glorifying God. And He's doing it in our room
and place, beloved. Do you know he glorified the Father in every
second of his life, every hour of his life, every minute of
his life? He glorified God. Isn't that
amazing? It's just amazing. And even as he's being delivered
up to his death, he's glorifying God according to the will and
purpose of God. He's going to glorify the Father,
right, by bringing many sons to glory, isn't he? By bringing
many sons to glory, who will glorify God forever. And how
is He going to do that? By the shedding of His precious
blood, giving His life for us. Again, I'm going to keep saying
this tonight, He came to save His people from their sins. That's
why He came here. And in doing that, God is greatly
glorified by His people, isn't He? It's incredible. And he knew
this was upcoming. This is why he had come to this
earth. He came to this earth to glorify God, and he came to
save his people from their sins. Willingly, too. He left heaven
willingly. Willingly. He's a lamb slain
from before the foundation of the earth. I was reading about
eternity this week, and there's no time, nothing in eternity.
It's just eternity. And he's the lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world, before time ever was?
I can't wrap my head around that. I believe it, because that's
what the scriptures say, but it's making me fizz, I'll tell
you that. Oh my gosh, but it's wonderful, isn't it? It's glorious. And he would glorify God by his
substitutionary death in the place of his people. Again, scripture
says, and she shall bring forth the Son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. The Messiah, do you know the
Messiah was to make an end to sins? Turn, if you would, to Daniel
chapter nine, verse 24. He'd come to make an end to sins.
Now, he's sinless, right? So he's making the end of the
sins for his people. for all those who the Father
gave Him. And do you know He's going to
make reconciliation for iniquity? Well, He's sinless, so that's
our iniquity. How are we healed? By His stripes,
right? He was wounded for our iniquities, or wounded for our
transgression, and He was bruised for our iniquities, wasn't He?
Our sins. And you know what he's also going
to bring in? Everlasting righteousness. See, because we can't ever muster
up a righteousness that will make us favorable before God.
Again, I keep saying this. This is a missing note in today's
preaching, because man's trying to go about establishing their
own righteousness. Well, we're never going to establish a righteousness
that's going to please God. Never. We can't. Because we're
sinners. And you know there's not a stitch
of our works in the righteousness of Christ? That whole robe of righteousness
that we're clothed in is all stitched by Christ in Him alone.
Yeah? Look at this, Daniel. This is
a wonderful verse, this Daniel 24, 9-24. This is just absolutely
wonderful. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression. What did Christ cry on the cross?
It is finished. That's what he cried. Look at
this. And to make an end of sins. Did
he not make an end of our sins? God don't remember them no more,
does he? Oh my! And look at this. And to make
reconciliation for iniquity. That's our iniquity. Reconciliation
is peace. And we have peace with God through
Christ and Him alone. through his precious, precious
blood, beloved. By faith, we have peace with
God. And that faith is God-given faith,
isn't it? It's wonderful. To make an end
to sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in
everlasting righteousness. What does the gospel reveal?
The righteousness of God. which is the only righteousness
that God will accept. Isn't that amazing? And yet men
still think, by nature, right? We're all the same. And we'd
be the same way if I'm not getting on no high horse, because we'd
be the same way if God hadn't saved us, if God hadn't made
us to differ. We'd be thinking, well, I can work my way to heaven,
but God in his mercy and grace has revealed to us that we can't
do that at all, can we? And he's given us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, born again. And it says, listen, to
seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
Who's the most holy? Christ. He's the most holy, beloved. So the Messiah is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. That's speaking of the Messiah.
The Messiah is none other than Christ himself. That's who the
Messiah is, our Savior, our Redeemer. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Christ was given a work by the
Father, and the work which the Father gave him was what? To
fulfill all righteousness, to obey the law perfectly for us,
and then to die in our room and place before the law and justice
of God, which he absolutely satisfied. Look at this, Romans chapter
3, verses 21 to 22. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifest. Look at that, the righteousness
of God without the law. Being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, look at that, which is
by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Note it doesn't say upon all
who live, It says, upon all who believe, by God given faith,
look at, for there's no difference. And then go over to Romans chapter
five, Romans chapter five, and look at this in verse 19. And
rejoice, beloved, in the truth of this verse. This is wonderful. Rejoice in this truth. For Christ
is the, oh no, For by his one man's disobedience, many were
made sinners. So we fell in Adam, right? So
by the obedience of one Christ, who came to fulfill all righteousness,
many shall be made righteous. You know, we've been made righteous
in God's sight. Isn't that incredible? Now turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 10, and we'll read verse 14. So as a result of being made
righteous by Christ, look what it says here. Here's the capstone
upon the truth that Christ came to fulfill the will of the Father.
Look at this. This is the best news I've heard
in a long time. For Christ is the E-N-D. What's that word mean? It means
end, right? He's the end. Means you can't
go no further, right? When you reach the end of a line
on a subway, you can't go any further. End of the road. When you reach the end of the
road, you can't go any further on that road. Even if you get
a T in the road, you end there, you gotta go either right or
left, don't you? You're not gonna go straight, because you're gonna
end up in a field. But I'll tell you what, he's the end of the
law for what? for righteousness to everyone that believeth."
Look at that. That's good news, beloved! Oh
my! You know, He came to defeat and
destroy all our enemies? He did. Sin came to defeat our
sin. Satan, he crushed his head, bruised
his heel, his manhood, but crushed his head, crushed the head of
Satan, and he's overcome death, praise be to God. So death's
just a doorway for us into glory. My oh my. Now turn if you would
to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. Read verses 27 to 35. Look at
this. John chapter 12. Verses 27 to 35. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. See,
here he is. He's going to glorify God, right?
Glorify thy name. Then came a voice from heaven
saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
Oh my! The people therefore stood
by and heard it and said that it thundered. Others said an
angel spake to him. They have no clue, do they? They
never heard anything like this. Oh, Jesus answered and said,
this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." So here
he goes. He's starting to talk about his
death. This, he said, signifying what death he should die. He
knew he was going to go on a cross. My. The people answered him,
we have heard out of the law that Christ abides forever, that
Christ there is the Messiah forever. And how sayest thou the Son of
Man must be lifted up? Who is the Son of Man? And Jesus
said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you.
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
And that was our natural state. We didn't know where we were
going. We were just walking in darkness, beloved. Yeah? Yeah, on the broad road. On the
broad road to destruction, and the Lord took us off that road
and put us on the straight road, didn't he? Oh my. You know, Christ came to save
and redeem his people. Scripture says this, for as much
as you know that you were not redeemed with credible things
of silver and gold from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was now, but
was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe
in God. We only believe through Christ,
don't we? that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God." That's where our
faith and hope is, isn't it? Who is Christ? He's God incarnated
in the flesh. God beloved. Let that never ever
become commonplace to us. Christ is God in the flesh. Because
when we think of that, we think of the humiliation of Christ,
the great mystery of godliness. God became a man to redeem our
eternal souls, beloved, by the shedding of his precious blood. You know what? Scripture says
this, too. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. That's Hebrews chapter
10, verse 7. So Christ came to to do the Father's
will, beloved. In the volume of the book, this
book is written all about Christ. The law, the Old Testament prophets,
they all spoke it. Moses spoke of him. My, oh, my. Turn, if you would,
to John chapter 7. John chapter 7. We're going to be in John here
for a few minutes. You know Christ never sought
his own glory? You know he never sought his
own glory? You hear people glorify themselves
all the time in religion. Man, you just ask them about
stuff and they start telling you about things. They'll tell
you all the things they've been doing. I call them glory stealers. Trying
to steal the glory of God. We don't ever want to do that,
do we? No, we want to give God all the glory. But He always
glorified the Father. Look at this in John chapter
7, verses 16 to 18. Jesus answered them and said,
My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. So even in
the doctrine that he's teaching, he's glorifying God, beloved.
He says, it's not mine, it's the Father's. If any man will
do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of
God or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh
his own glory. So remember that when someone
starts popping off about themselves, they're seeking their own glory.
Look at that. But he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in
him." There's no unrighteousness in Christ, none at all. None
at all. Listen to what is said in John
14, verse 22 to 24, it says this, "...Judas saith unto him, not
ascariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto
us and not unto the world?" Jesus answered and said unto him, if
a man love me, he will keep my words, and my father will love
him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
Listen to that. I'm going to read that again.
This is amazing. Listen to this. Judas saith unto
him, not Ascariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest
thyself unto us and not unto the world? How are you going to do that,
Lord? Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he
will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth
not my sayings. And the word which ye hear is
not mine, but the Father which sent me. Christ is glorifying
God. The words that he speaks is spirit
and life, but he's speaking what the Father wants him to speak.
But notice that one part there. If a man, or he that loveth me
not keepeth not my sayings. We were there. I was there. When I was dead in trespasses
and sins, but now I'll tell you what, now I love him. And that's
not something I mustered up. No, that's something that God
did for me in me. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. Now, when our Lord did testify of himself, it was only
as being commissioned by the Father who had sent him. He'd
say, well, I was sent by the Father. Still, always glorifying
God, always giving Him all the glory. And He'd speak in a way
of reconciliation between God and man. Because He's alone,
He alone is the mediator between God and man. There's no other
one. No other one. And the Lord Jesus Christ had
glorified God by the miracles that He performed. You know what
those miracles were? Exercises of His divine sovereign
power. You ever think of it that way?
When he did a miracle, he was exercising his sovereign divine
power. So when we do those encounters
with Christ, just think of that. He's manifesting his divine power. We're going to see him walk on
water this weekend. He's manifesting his divine power. Any of us ever walk on water?
Just try it and watch how fast you sink. Right? We sink like a log, won't we? Or sink like an anchor, won't
we? I was thinking about that last night. I'm thinking, he
walked on water. Well, and then I thought, well,
it's not hard for he who commands the winds and the waves. I thought
about the following sermon the week before, and I thought, my
goodness. Walking on water is nothing to
him. He made it. It's his. He controls it. Oh, my. Again, we cry with Peter,
right? Lord, help my unbelief. Help
my unbelief, Lord. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Oh. Turn with me, if you would,
to John chapter 5. This is the last place we'll
be turned into. And take note here in these verses
that we're going to read. Take note of how our Savior glorifies
God. It's amazing. As I was looking
at this, for the study, I was just amazed at this and how he
just glorifies God through the whole passage. John chapter 5
verses 36 to 47. Again, take note of how he testifies
of the Father. But I have greater witness than
that of John, for the works which the Father hath given me to finish,
the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father
has sent me. Again, they've sent me again. We're seeing it everywhere,
aren't we? It's all over. And the Father
himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye
have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
And ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent
him ye believe not. Look at that. Then he said, look
at this statement. Search the scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life. There they which testify
of me These scriptures beloved testify of Christ Now I'm gonna
say something here beloved of God rejoice Rejoice that Christ
has revealed himself to us and we see that these scriptures
testify of him because not everybody sees that Not everybody's we
didn't see it before the Lord saved us. Did we? I And now we
go, oh my, he's everywhere in this book. It just speaks to
him. And that's the truth. The master
said it himself. And ye will not come to me that
you might have life. See, man naturally will never
come to Christ unless they're made well in the day of God's
power. I receive, look at this, I receive not honor from men,
see we as God's people too, we don't receive honor from men,
we don't want honor from men, do we? We want God to be glorified. In our lives, we want Him to be glorified.
I receive not honor from men, but I know you that ye have not
the love of God in you. Look at that. This is God in
the flesh saying, I know you, and you do not have the love
of God in you. I am come in my father's name,
and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you receive. That's so true, isn't it? If
a man comes to another man and says, well, In order to be saved,
you have to do this. Man will run to that stuff. They
will run to it. Man comes to a poor sinner and
says, the only way you're going to get to heaven is through Christ.
They shake their fist at you, and they'll say words to you
that you wouldn't want to repeat. But it's true. He's the only
way. He's the only way. How can ye believe which honor
one of another? And seek not honor that cometh
from God only. Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom you trust." Now look at, he's just showing
them who they're trusting in. The law. Traditions. Of man. He has just showed them
who they're trusting in. For had ye believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. Wow, what a statement. But if you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my words? So they were trusting in the
law, beloved. They were trusting in themselves. They weren't trusting
in the one Moses wrote of. And as I said earlier in this
message, Christ came to save His people from their sins. And
the only way this could be done was the giving of His life. Offering His life for the sins
of His people. This was the greatest act of
love, again, that this world has ever seen. It is the greatest
act of love. Greatest act of love that's ever
been witnessed. In the Lord Jesus Christ, when
He's dying on that cross, when He cries, it is finished. He's finished the work that the
Father sent Him to do. And in all those folks, whom
souls He saved, They're now going to glorify God forever. Oh, it'll be wonderful! Christ died in the room and place
of sinners. And beloved of God, He glorified
His Father in His death. For in death, He not only displayed
the power of the Father, who upheld Him under all trials,
but he reflected honor on all the perfections of deity, causing
them to shine forth in the united and harmonious splendor. Every
attribute of God was made to appear more glorious on Calvary's
grounds. Think of this, God's grace was
magnified at the grounds. God's eternal love for his people
was magnified at the cross. God's great mercy was magnified
at the cross. God's grace to sinners was magnified
at the cross. God's unbending justice was fully
satisfied at the cross. God's law with its demands upon
we who are sinners was absolutely satisfied. And God's wrath was
extinguished for His people when Christ died on Calvary's cross.
Oh my. Therefore, on the approach of
this great event, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon Calvary's
cross, our wonderful, merciful Savior proclaims these wonderful
words about the Father. He said, Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God
shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightaway glorify
Him. John chapter 13, verses 31 and
32. Praise be to God. He has now
given us lips, we who are the redeemed of the Lord, lips to
be filled with praise to glorify God.